Mia had practiced her song for the school talent show for two months. She knew every note perfectly when she sang in her room. But standing backstage, hearing the crowd applaud for the act before her, she felt sick to her stomach.
"I can't do this," she whispered to her friend Jasmine. "Everyone's going to laugh at me."
Jasmine squeezed her hand. "Remember why you wanted to do this in the first place."
Mia thought about it. She loved singing more than anything. She'd dreamed of performing ever since she saw her first concert at age six. Was she really going to let fear stop her?
When her name was called, Mia walked onto the stage on shaky legs. The spotlight was blinding. She couldn't see the audience at all - and somehow, that helped. She took a deep breath and began to sing.
Her voice cracked on the first note. Someone in the crowd coughed. But Mia kept going. By the second verse, her voice grew stronger. By the end, she was singing with all her heart.
She didn't win first place. But when she walked off stage, she was smiling. She had done it. She had faced her fear.
"That was amazing," Jasmine said, hugging her.
"It wasn't perfect," Mia admitted. "But I'm proud of myself for trying. That's what matters most."
There was one chocolate chip cookie left on the plate, and both twins wanted it. Leo reached for it first, but Lena grabbed his wrist.
"I called it!" Lena said.
"No, you didn't! I was reaching for it before you even saw it!"
They argued back and forth until their grandmother walked in. "What's all this fuss about?"
"There's only one cookie, and we both want it," Leo explained.
Grandma smiled. "I see. Well, one of you could eat it. Or..." She handed Leo a butter knife. "You could cut it in half and share."
Leo hesitated. Half a cookie wasn't as good as a whole cookie. But looking at his sister's hopeful face, he made a decision. He carefully cut the cookie in two - and gave Lena the slightly bigger half.
Lena's eyes widened. "But that piece is bigger!"
Leo shrugged. "You're my sister. Besides, now we both get to enjoy a cookie together."
As they sat munching their halves, Leo realized that sharing actually felt pretty good. Better than eating alone would have.
Every year, Emma's older brother Alex won the school science fair. His projects were always creative and impressive. Emma had never even entered.
"Why bother?" she told her dad. "Alex is the science expert. I'll never be as good as him."
Her dad raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you really think? That you can't be good at something just because someone else is better?"
Emma had no answer for that. That night, she lay awake thinking. She did love science - especially anything about animals. Maybe she could do a project about bird migration patterns...
For the next six weeks, Emma worked harder than she'd ever worked on anything. She tracked birds in her backyard, researched online, and created detailed charts. She built a display showing the migration routes of ten different species.
At the science fair, Emma stood nervously by her project. Judge after judge stopped to look and ask questions. To her shock, she won third place - her first award ever.
"I'm so proud of you!" Alex said, giving her a high-five. "Your project was really cool."
Emma smiled, holding her ribbon. "I almost didn't enter because I thought I couldn't compete with you. But now I know - the only person I need to compete with is myself."
Jason knew the shortcut through Mr. Wilson's property was off-limits. But his friends were already climbing the fence, and he didn't want to seem scared.
"Come on, Jason! It saves ten minutes!" called Marcus.
Jason climbed over. As they crossed the field, he felt uneasy. This was wrong, and he knew it.
Suddenly, a voice boomed: "Hey! You kids get off my property!"
They ran. Jason's heart pounded the whole way home. He couldn't even enjoy playing video games with his friends - all he could think about was what they'd done.
That night, Jason couldn't sleep. The next morning, he told his mom everything.
"I'm disappointed you did that," Mom said. "But I'm proud you told me. What are you going to do about it?"
After school, Jason went to Mr. Wilson's house - alone. His legs shook as he knocked on the door.
"I'm sorry for trespassing," Jason said. "It was wrong, and I won't do it again. Is there anything I can do to make it right?"
Mr. Wilson studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "You can help me pick up branches this Saturday. And you're the only one of those kids brave enough to apologize."
Walking home, Jason felt lighter than he had in days. Making things right was hard, but it was worth it.